Getting My Goose On: A Q&A with Wild Goose Festival Director Gareth Higgins

Last updated on: July 3, 2013 at 6:57 pm By Deborah Arca

With only five weeks to go to the third annual Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs, North Carolina, I checked in with Festival Director Gareth Higgins about what to expect and look forward to at this year’s 4-day gathering at the intersection of spirituality, social justice and the arts. In addition to the stellar and diverse line-up of speakers and bands the festival is known for, this year’s event will include daily workshops on non-violence, ecological consciousness and multi-culturalism; morning prayer in... Read more

When Robbers and Innkeepers Profit from Good Samaritans

Last updated on: July 2, 2013 at 9:37 pm By Guest Contributor

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By the Rev. Brian E. Konkol Lake Edge Lutheran Church, Madison, WI The “Parable of the Good Samaritan” is one of the most well known, beloved, and influential portions of the New Testament. As a striking narrative about care and compassion for others, the content of Luke 10:29-37 has reverberated throughout the centuries as a clear and profound call to public love through personal action. All together, the radical hospitality of the Samaritan has sparked various charitable acts and organizations around... Read more

Movement for Justice: Changing the Story

Last updated on: June 27, 2013 at 4:08 pm By Guest Contributor

Our stories are changed by the testimony of others. We are changed by the movement of time, by new understandings, and by the still-speaking Word. If this were not true, my ancestors would still be obeying masters, and my female justice-seeking voice would be silent. Read more

Interfaith Alliance Celebrates SCOTUS Decisions on DOMA, Prop. 8

Last updated on: June 26, 2013 at 4:31 pm By Guest Contributor

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Interfaith Alliance President the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy issued the following statement celebrating today’s Supreme Court decisions: "The enormity of today’s decisions cannot be overstated..." Read more

Realism vs. Man of Steelism

Last updated on: June 19, 2013 at 10:30 pm By Jim Burklo

Once upon a time, political conservatives in America were stereotyped as hard-headed realists, and liberals were described as ungrounded dreamers. How times have changed! Conservatives base their policies on an ideal world in which capitalism works perfectly without government intervention. They assume that the hard-working succeed and the lazy fail. They assume that if people are hungry or unemployed, they should turn to private charity for help if they can’t pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. They assume that... Read more

Beers & Hymns: A Partnership of Pub and Parish

Last updated on: June 17, 2013 at 8:41 pm By Patheos Daily Reflections

Through our “Beers & Hymns” events at a local pub, we created an opportunity to be Church in our local neighborhood, rather than passively expecting the local neighborhood to come to our Church. Read more

Voting: A Ritual

Last updated on: June 11, 2013 at 6:51 pm By Jim Burklo

“Voting is irrational.” This jarring statement comes from Paul Woodruff, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas in Austin, in his wise book, REVERENCE: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue. Paul came to USC a few months ago, hosted by my office, to give a series of talks. He’s a person who emanates the virtue that he teaches, speaking with a calm, reflective demeanor. Woodruff posits that unless we understand voting as a ritual, we’ll miss the point of it, and... Read more

What Do the Indigo Girls, Krista Tippett, Philip Yancey and Nadia Bolz-Weber All Have in Common?

Last updated on: June 5, 2013 at 11:25 pm By Deborah Arca

They’re all going to the Wild Goose Festival this summer! Yep, you heard right … these fabulous folks and many, many more interesting and passionate people of faith are all part of the line-up for the third annual Wild Goose Festival — a 4-day event centered around social justice, spirituality, music and art in the beautiful town of Hot Springs, NC, just outside of Asheville, from August 8-11, 2013. What exactly is the Wild Goose, you say? Here’s a brief... Read more

Breathing With Gretta…

Last updated on: June 5, 2013 at 10:39 pm By Jim Burklo

…a review by Jim Burklo of WE ALL BREATHE – a book of poems by Gretta Vosper As I review my involvement in the progressive Christian movement over the last decade and a half, I face a seeming contradiction. On the one hand, I’m amazed that a small number of devoted people, with very limited resources, succeeded in establishing a public identity for theologically and socially progressive Christianity. At least some people in the wider world have an awareness that... Read more

John Holbert: What I’m Reading this Summer

Last updated on: June 4, 2013 at 4:51 pm By Patheos Daily Reflections

Books have long been my friends, my boon companions, acquaintances on long sleepless nights, during sultry and desultory days, whenever I need to escape and when I must not escape, when I need to see more clearly and understand more helpfully the world that God has given to us. Read more

Who refused to bow to the king's statue and was thrown in the fire?