By Deborah Arca Mooney
09/01/10
All of you "inner monks" dressed in Protestant clothing, here's an invitation for you. One of my favorite bloggers and spiritual directors, Christine Valters Paintner, has posted a "Monk Manifesto" at her site, Abbey of the Arts. I share her invitation with those of you seeking an intentional way of living contemplatively in the world. She's also offering a free e-course called Monk in the World.
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By Guest
08/31/10
"Brian McLaren and I are organizing a major public conference on September 8-9 in Raleigh, North Carolina in order to make the call for a return to "Big Tent Christianity" (seeBigTentChristianity.com). Why is this call important?" Theology Professor Philip Clayton offers a background and vision for this new movement.
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By atravelersnote
08/31/10
Pakistan is still reeling from the destruction of the floods. I have personal friends who are struggling through and offering their presence to these families. I think that's the key, not offering them answers; answers can be destructive. Peace isn't finding an answer to your problem, its knowing that you're not alone.
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By Guest
08/30/10
"Faithfulness to God today involves world loyalty and the willingness to sacrifice for the well-being of vulnerable persons and an equally vulnerable planet. Individual initiative, creativity, and freedom are important and essential to the good life, but they always exist in the context of caring for God by supporting the least of these and seeking to be God’s partners in healing the earth, economically, politically, and spiritually. The only gospel worth following is social, despite Beck’s revisionism: “let justice roll down like waters, righteousness like an everflowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)" Bruce Epperly on a different kind of Christian honor.
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By Alyce McKenzie
08/30/10
Says biblical scholar Earl Ellis, “Jesus’ purpose in telling these 2 parables is not to dissuade prospective disciples, but to awaken half hearted followers to the disastrous consequences of such a path”(195). They will be thrown out like worthless salt (Luke 14:18).
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By Guest
08/30/10
"I find good people of faith and conscience are reticent to speak up about controversial issues, whether in houses of worship or councils of government, because of the common misconception that expressing passionate views grounded in a religious or ethical belief system somehow violates the separation of religion and state." Presbyterian minister and Director of the Marin Interfaith Council Carol Hovis appeals to people of faith to stand with Muslim Americans at this critical moment for all religions.
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By atravelersnote
08/29/10
For Lacan, public law such as “No Photos” or “Do not go on the grass” implicitly attracts the subject of that law to commit the very thing it prohibits (exactly in the way that if we tell the child not to eat the freshly baked cakes, we are simultaneously pointing out the method with which [...]
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By Benjamin J. Chicka
08/28/10
Belief in God is not necessary for morality. But, I cannot disprove that an omniscient God created the universe in such a way that we would evolve oxytocin as the moral molecule. I have no way to test this so I must leave this in the "inconclusive" pile. Call it a matter of faith.
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By Alyce McKenzie
08/22/10
Who was the guest of honor in the banquet Jesus attended? Who is the guest of honor in the banquets we attend? Who is the guest of honor in the banquets we are to host, a foretaste of the messianic banquet? Who is the guest of honor at the messianic banquet in the kingdom of God yet to come?
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By atravelersnote
08/20/10
The condition of renewal means you cut your roots – Slavoj Zizek Once upon a time when we were peripatetic hunter-gatherers, all we knew was travel. Mobility was life. Life was mobility. We only took what we needed. We didn’t consume in excess. Then one day we discovered the art of farming and settling. This simple [...]
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By Guest
08/20/10
"I sympathize with all those who are afraid of Muslim terrorists. I do not join them in that fear–statistically speaking, Americans are as likely to die in their bathtubs as they are to be killed by terrorists–but I am cursed by empathy, the writer’s ability to see how other people think, live, and love. If I were a New Yorker, perhaps I would also be upset by the news that Sufi Muslims want to build a spiritual center in lower Manhattan, not far from the site of the World Trade Center attacks. Maybe. But I doubt it." Guest blogger and Episcopal lay preacher Greg Garrett files a passionate response to the continuing debate over the proposed "Ground Zero Mosque."
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By Guest
08/18/10
Does the film and book "Eat, Pray, Love" present an invitation to moderate and progressive Christians to take the spiritual journeys of people more seriously in preaching, program, and outreach? Guest blogger Bruce Epperly thinks so...
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By Guest
08/17/10
"The religious "other" is not the enemy; quite the contrary: it's through her that one's own religious identity and practice emerge more clearly." Theology Professor Philip Clayton explores the emerging "third way" of deepening one's own religious beliefs in a multi-faith world.
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By atravelersnote
08/16/10
Dogma imprisons us within freedom. It gives us the caged experience of liberty. It drives us to think when we are bound we are free. The illusions that dogma perpetuate empowers us with the sense of being in control of our own destiny, as if we have a choice to follow the Creator. But the fatal flaw of dogma is that the illusions aren't real. They lie to us. They betray us by being faithful to themselves.
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By Alyce McKenzie
08/16/10
I stayed in a convent once for a week while leading a seminar at a nearby seminary. Many of the nuns were elderly and suffered from acute osteoporosis. This is how I imagine the woman in this story. She is bent over at the waist and to be able to see where she is going, must crane her neck at an uncomfortable angle to see anything but the floor. And yet Jesus calls her to come to him. The very thing she is unable to do, stand up straight, is the thing she can immediately do, after Jesus lays hands upon her.
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By Jason Derr
08/16/10
The world as we know it has not always been so, and the world as it is will not always be as it is. The earth is a vast, complex – and beautiful – system of recycling and self-renewal. All of which gives rise to a powerful insight – there are no places, only processes.
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By Alyce McKenzie
08/16/10
Rereading parts of the book after I saw the movie, I was impressed with the depth of its insights. Gilbert is modest in the claims she makes- this is her experience, not meant to be generalized for everyone. And yet there is something in her experience that transcends one woman’s travelogue.
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By Ryan Parker
08/16/10
In an article I wrote for Patheos a few months back, I talked about the ways in which films have depicted Protestants throughout history. In the brief space allotted, I barely scratched the surface of a rich, complex history. In his latest book, Christians in the Movies: A Century of Saints and Sinners, Peter E. Dans provides a much broader look at the representations of Christians in films over the last century.
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By atravelersnote
08/13/10
At one point on his journey, Jesus comments on the static state of the homeless population. He says to his listeners that the homeless will always be here with us. In another place he equates a compassionate act to those in need, as the same as if we had enacted compassion directly on to Him. Essentially, the homeless population are Jesus in the flesh. They are messengers of the Rabbi from Nazareth.
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By Guest
08/13/10
"I wonder why a bible verse that served me so well in one phase of my life proved so futile during another. Could the verses that once brought me closer to God now make me feel faithless? Was I going to have to find new sources of inspiration?" Monica Coleman reflects on spiritual reading for different seasons of life.
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By Guest
08/12/10
"Does there ever come a time in life in life when God withdraws God's care and lets us experience the full consequences of our actions? Does God's "tough love" include withholding protection for irresponsible humans?" Bruce Epperly reflects on this Sunday's scripture texts...
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By Guest
08/11/10
"When I last wrote, I was on the island of Patmos out in the Greek Aegean Sea, following John the Beloved Apostle to his little cave where, in the tenth decade of his long life, he kept company with the crows and envisioned the end of the age and the coming of a new heaven and a new earth. So it is fitting that I continue my pilgrimage to the place where new visions (or nightmares) for the End Time were going to be discussed." Our meandering pilgrim, Rebecca Cole-Turner, continues her sacred pilgrimage in a remote corner of upstate New York.
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By Guest
08/09/10
"While it easy to dismiss Rodney Stark’s interview as insulting, inaccurate, and unworthy of a scholar of his stature, I have always followed the principle that a stopped clock is accurate at least twice a day. Although Stark gives a diagnosis without a prescription, his words inspire a thoughtful response on behalf of faithful pastors, seminary professors, and congregants whose theology is moderate to progressive." Bruce Epperly offers another "mainline" response to Rodney Stark's interview at Patheos.
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By atravelersnote
08/09/10
There has been a hip new influx of re-ideology. Or neo-ideologies. For example, there used to be evangelical, now there is a neo-evangelical movement in some churches. Its much like the straw men, they look like what they represent, but they depend on what is behind them to be informed.
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By Alyce McKenzie
08/09/10
The worst sermons I’ve ever preached were those that tried to “connect the lectionary dots” but didn’t offer a coherent message that tied them together. This week I did discern a thread that connected three of the lectionary text dots: texts from Isaiah 5, Psalm 80 and Luke 12. First, let’s look at the dots.
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By Guest
08/06/10
Are Evangelicals the new Mainline? Not so fast... Professor and Episcopal lay leader Greg Garrett responds to Rodney Stark's provocative interview on the "demise" of the mainline church...
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By Guest
08/06/10
Our Christian past has been rife with breaking God's human family apart. Could the future of Christianity be about bringing it together? Claremont School of Theology President Jerry Campbell on the call to be bridge-builders in a fractured world.
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By Christine Sine
08/05/10
Summer is well underway, the garden continues to flourish and I am taking time to sit back and enjoy the harvest - not just the harvest of tomatoes and squash that are burgeoning in abundance, but also the harvest of beauty and of peace. This is the season when we all feel like sitting back and relaxing. And I recommend that everyone make sure that they do just that.
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By atravelersnote
08/05/10
It's ironic how, especially in western countries, we have been indoctrinated to believe that freedom can be across the board. That we can all be equal. The issue with that is that we as Westerners preach this message of equality but don't believe it.
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By atravelersnote
08/03/10
We live in a world that almost thrives on the need for closure or an ending. We like happy endings in particular. This is why Hollywood makes so much money, we want to believe that happy endings exist. But let's be honest, life is more like a beautiful piece of quilted patchwork. The colors don't always match. The lines acrosss the quilt don't always line up. And it might be shorter than we anticipated. But, it is life. What if Christianity was meant to be more like the the quilt and less like the Hollywood endings?
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