The Old Testament promises of salvation for those who admit their guilt may be offered as a carrot, while the Gospel reading may be deployed as a stick, warning listeners about the peril of hellfire for those who suddenly meet their end without being sacramentally “prepared.” But is this a fair reading of these passages? Read more
Imagine a church directed from the bottom up, and where the voices of clergy didn't outweigh the voices of laity. Would the saying “we are the Church” ring true for you then? Read more
It was so easy for me. After several years of constantly wrestling with the question, “what is required to truly be part of the Body of Christ?” it was simply handed to me. Read more
The Spirit breathed something wondrous: a girl with the perfect knowledge of good and evil that had eluded Eve. She experienced every other limitation of the human condition, but she would not accept the attribution of shame to her limitations. And that simple rejection of external shame would make all the difference. Read more
“Dogma is like Sandy Dog – it doesn’t change,” I told my 11-year-old trying to remember the difference between Church dogma and discipline for a Religion test. Read more
“Let me in,” says Jesus, knocking on a door, in a popular meme. “Why?” replies the unseen person on the other side. “So I can save you.” “From what?” “From what I’m going to do to you if you don’t let me in!” Read more
God doesn’t send anyone a cross to bear. How many times have you heard the pious pablum that He does? It’s not just insipid; it actively harms people’s faith in God when they are in pain and they hear this message. So let’s do better than just not saying it ourselves. We need to get clear about what “bear a cross” refers to, so we can refute its misuse and comfort those who have been damaged by it. Friends, despite... Read more
Mystical theology seems to have become a lost art in Western Christianity, at least from the 17th century onwards. Is it possible for Western Christians to make this course of study without joining an Eastern monastic or liturgical tradition? And why has it been so muted in the West for the past 400-some years? Read more
Why are these massacres occurring with crushing and accelerating frequency? I can’t help but perceive not simply “lone wolves” without consciences, but a spreading evil spirit animating these murderous acts. But lest anyone think I'm saying “the devil made them do it,” let me explain what I mean by conscience. Read more
Half Taiwanese, half white, I heard from random strangers, both black and white, growing up in Arkansas, “Go back to China.” Of course it’s racist to say something like that. It’s asinine to argue otherwise. But what matters far more to me is how many days will we allow to go by as children sleep on concrete, under fluorescent lights, separated from their families? THAT trauma, already enacted under Obama and made so much worse under Trump: is this all... Read more
Beyond All Telling
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