Adam Walker Cleaveland, a youth minister in Northern California, offers this post today as part of our continuing conversation about religion and sexuality here at Patheos. “Last night a group of 15 people sat around a long table at the Riata Tavern in downtown Livermore. There were Presbyterians, Methodists, Reform Jews and folks from evangelical non-denominational churches. And we were all talking about sex.”

“Fostering community and generosity are the most important Kingdom values a church-based garden can portray.” Faithful gardener and Godspace blogger Christine Sine shares her insights and resources for creating a vibrant community garden with your church community.

Another post for this week’s Religion & Sexuality theme, from Monica A. Coleman of A Beautiful Mind Blog:
The camera pans to a living room. Dark hues mute an anguished woman’s face as her body blends into the couch. Quiet, sentimental music crescendos. Voiceover: “Are you depressed?” One last shot at the blank, bleak face. Not two seconds later the world is technicolor, the music upbeat. The woman runs in a field, flying a kite, her body bursting with energy. Her children run beside her. The voiceover returns: “Depression hurts.” Little pills solve that problem. Makes me want to throw my TV out the window.

Bruce Epperly offers this post for the “What Is Emerging” synchroblog today: Emerging spirituality is a process, not a thing; a liquid, not a solid; a movement, not a destination. Defining it is as difficult as catching the wind as it blows. As I ponder today’s emerging church, I am reminded of the dynamic spirit-movement described in the New Testament adventure story, Acts of the Apostles. No one knew what would happen next. But, the Spirit was moving.

While we’re on the subject of sexuality and religion here at Patheos, you might be interested in this courageous post from our resident Catholic priest on the current sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. His remarkable honesty is consoling and I imagine many in the priesthood, though not as likely to articulate it publicly, share his heartfelt sentiments.

From the brilliant Jana Riess: #Twible Josh 3: Remember when G drowned Eg’ns in Red Sea? Now reverses H2O magic so Isr x’es Jordan on dry land. & For his next trick…

The tax man cometh, bringing with him/her an opportunity to practice gratitude (seriously!).

So, we’re talking about sex in the Public Square this week. Or at least we’re writing about it (and very well, i might add). Talking about it seems to be another matter altogether! I wonder if we can begin to talk about it more openly and widely in our communities of faith? What would it look like to have healthy conversations about sex in Church?

Bruce Reyes-Chow, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA), is part of a Presbyterian delegation to Haiti to meet with local mission co-workers, partner sites and official global church partners. We’ll share some of his posts here at Faith Forward in the week ahead. Here’s his report from Day 1.

Calling all Moms (and Dads for that matter) — does this sound familiar?: “In the BK (before kids) era of my life, I was notoriously bad at quiet times. I lacked discipline. And, in the rare periods when I disciplined myself to have a daily quiet time, I quickly found my prayers felt inauthentic. So I dreaded to think what would happen to my already-spotty spiritual disciplines when I had kids!” Fear not. Read the rest of Kathy Tuan-MacLean’s article on the unique ways God meets us in our parenting.