5 Ways the Church Hurts on Mother’s Day

Last updated on: May 5, 2016 at 7:08 pm By Guest Contributor

By Elizabeth Hagan Mothers Day. In many churches its celebrated as a church holiday when Pentecost, Trinity, or All Saints Day are not. In some, it’s the second highest attendance Sunday after Easter (I know it was in the churches I’ve pastored!). On May 8th, it will be rare that you don’t find a bulletin cover with the title “Mother’s Day” printed on the front. Oh, how we love the day! In fact, so many churches have Mother’s Day routines executed with robot-like procession. Few can... Read more

Happy Mother’s Day, Dad!

Last updated on: May 4, 2016 at 10:22 pm By Dwight Lee Wolter

What is a mother, anyway? Clearly it is not merely a biological relationship. Mother’s Day can be celebrated by two men or two women who adopt and raise a child. Mother’s Day is also for incarcerated mothers of children being raised by another “mother.” And of course step-mothers are mothers. Yup. Nothing is simple anymore. Read more

A Very Human Jesus: Ewan McGregor on Playing Yeshua in ‘Last Days in the Desert’

Last updated on: May 6, 2016 at 8:14 pm By Deborah Arca

“You can’t approach playing a character such as Jesus without being a little freaked out. It’s incredibly daunting …but you have to put that aside. You have to start with finding the man in you and focusing on that.”— Ewan McGregor, on playing Jesus in “Last Days in the Desert” There’s a surprisingly funny moment in the otherwise serious and contemplative new movie Last Days in the Desert, where Jesus (played by Ewan McGregor) and the teenage boy he’s met in the desert... Read more

WATCH: Exclusive Clip from ‘Last Days in the Desert’ with Ewan McGregor

Last updated on: May 2, 2016 at 9:56 pm By Deborah Arca

Last Days in the Desert, a new film by writer/director Rodrigo Garcia and starring Ewan McGregor, is an evocative meditation on the humanness of Jesus. Premiering in select cities May 13, the movie follows Jesus in an imagined chapter from his forty days of fasting and praying in the desert. On his way out of the wilderness, he struggles with the Devil, also played by McGregor, over the fate of an ordinary family in crisis, setting for himself a dramatic test with distinctly human... Read more

Hip-Hop as Theological Exploration

Last updated on: January 25, 2017 at 7:22 pm By Guest Contributor

If it weren’t for hip-hop, I wouldn’t be in the church, period. What I later heard from some great pastors, I first heard from some dope emcees and gifted songwriters whose songs are described by church folk as “indecent” and “improper” and “unorthodox”. They are, and I thank God for them, because those were my burning bushes. Read more

GOD: The First Artist

Last updated on: April 21, 2016 at 10:34 pm By Dwight Lee Wolter

The first words of the first book of the Bible are, “In the beginning, God created…” God’s first act was to create. He created many wonders: heaven, earth, light, night, and all creatures that roam earth and sky ~ but that wasn’t enough creating ~ so God created humankind. And the first thing that God said after creating humankind was, “Be fruitful and multiply.” So God wanted those that he created to go and create! Ours is a creative God,... Read more

Tax Day Spirituality

Last updated on: April 18, 2016 at 3:48 pm By Dwight Lee Wolter

Today is tax day and the IRS wants our money. Many of us would “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s” (Luke 20:25) if we only had it to give. Maybe we can spin straw into gold like what happens in the tale of Rumplestiltskin. Do you remember? The king shuts a young woman in a tower with a pile of straw and demands she transform it into gold, which she does with the help of a creepy creature named... Read more

Women’s Faith and Power

Last updated on: April 12, 2016 at 6:10 pm By Guest Contributor

By Harriett Jane Olson I meet empowered and empowering women every day. Women who are learning and teaching the skills to improve their own lives, the lives of their families and the lives of people all around them. Women who find themselves by standing up for others. Women who offer leadership at work, at church and in government institutions. I meet empowered and empowering women every day because my job as a leader of United Methodist Women is to help... Read more

Impending Trump Visit Creates Clear & Present Danger

Last updated on: April 8, 2016 at 3:49 pm By Dwight Lee Wolter

Donald Trump has been invited to Patchogue, Long Island, on Thursday, April 14th, for a “fundraiser reception” sponsored by The Suffolk County Republican Committee at the Emporium nightclub, which is the site of numerous previously reported acts of violence, including a performer, “Stew Deez”, who was arrested and charged with second degree reckless endangerment, and second degree criminal possession of a weapon which he fired into the air during an altercation after the show. The Emporium is on the same... Read more