It is 3pm on Friday, and I can’t wait to get home and watch the Hunger Games. I mean, the Olympics. It isn’t my fault. I never planned to spend my sabbatical reading teen lit books; and I certainly would not have intentionally finished Mockingjay just as the Olympics kicked off. Except that I would, and I did. And now I cannot watch a single moment of it without making parallels between Katniss and Gabby. Between that Ceasar guy and–dear lord–Ryan Seacrest.... Read more

A minister, an atheist, and a few other people walk into a bar… The minister says, “Drinking is against God’s will for your life.” The atheist responds: “He forgot to tell that to Jesus.” The others say, “This sounds like a great conversation – can we join?” And so it begins… Inspired by a church in London, pastor, writer, and pub theologian Bryan Berghoef began facilitating Pub Theology sessions at a local microbrewery in Traverse City, Michigan four years ago.... Read more

Favorite Patheos blogger and Lutheran Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber recently spoke to 34,000 teenagers at the annual youth gathering of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) in New Orleans.  Her selection as a conference speaker had been widely contested (Nadia has a tendency to drop the F bomb and is heavily tatooed), but ultimately she was invited to take the stage and offer a 20-minute message. I invite you to take a minute and listen to what she said to... Read more

Reflections on BRIGHT-SIDED – How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich (2009) In the 19th century, the legacy of Calvinism led to an epidemic of ill-defined emotional and physical ailments. Wretched sinners’ fear falling into the hands of an angry God drove the members of the rising middle class into paroxysms of guilt for failing to work hard enough to be worthy of salvation. Women of means and clergymen were afflicted in particular. Noted... Read more

I had a veteran friend once tell me, “The biggest lie I have ever been told is that violence is evil, except in war.”  He went on, “My government told me that.  My Church told me that.  My family told me that… I came back from war and told them the truth – ‘Violence is not evil, except in war… Violence is evil – period’.” Every day it seems like we are bombarded with news stories of violence – a... Read more

The Uncertainty-Driven Life Wandering, I stumbled upon my purpose, Adrift, I made port, Unbidden, love arrived, Asleep, I learned my lesson, In silence, notes danced across my score, Dreaming, my problems solved themselves. 4th of July Insistently a dot spirals upwards, Penetrating light into the dark. Spent, it booms into a bright bloom of popping florets. Below, lying on a blanket, a beaming woman looks up, With a new baby nursing at her breast. Always and again the cosmos collapses... Read more

(after worshipping last Sunday at Willistown Friends Meeting, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania) A big stone house on a country road, Keeping silence since 1798, Filled with Friends on First Day morning. Some took places on pews Where their great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers Once sat in the heavy summer air Letting the rasping of cicadas in the trees outside And the insistent voices of toddlers And the shushing of embarrassed parents Lightly vibrate through and past them As they waited upon the Lord.... Read more

As part of our conversation on the new book Reborn on the Fourth of July: The Challenge of Faith, Patriotism and Conscience by Logan Mehl-Laituri, we invited several prominent Christian thought-leaders to offer a message to the church on the Fourth of July.  They considered: how should our faith inform our patriotism? Here, author and emerging church leader Brian McLaren reflects on what it means to be a Christian and a citizen of a nation.   View other video “Messages to the... Read more

This Denver girl is a brand new fan of the South. Specifically the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area in North Carolina, home to the second annual Wild Goose Festival 2012, a raucous, grace-filled celebration of music, justice, spirituality and art. Last week, I joined hundreds of other progressive Christians of all stripes, sizes and colors for five spirited — and very hot — days of camping at the beautifully funky Shakori Hills festival grounds, and taking in talks, music, poetry, movies and... Read more