Christians in our changing world

Last updated on: July 10, 2015 at 9:08 am By Jim Meisner Jr.

Their religion no longer sustains them. The society of their youth has vanished. Their simple theology is nearly worthless in a complex and changing world. They are afraid. In their fear they lash out at “others.” Liberals, immigrants, judges who share their views much of the time, women, government, gays, fellow Christians, other religions, the educated, media. Others. Everyone who isn’t them. Their fear is fanned by pandering politicians and poisonous preachers peddling panic and paranoia. They adopt an attitude... Read more

My faith story – more or less

Last updated on: July 8, 2015 at 11:03 pm By Jim Meisner Jr.

In September, 2001, I was living in a hotel, going through a divorce, drinking and smoking too much. A week after 9-11, when so many of us were grappling with such an example of pure evil in the world, I found myself outside in the woods for work as the sun rose. The sunlight played across a spider web with beads of dew on it — the web was both incredibly delicate and unbelievably strong to hold all the dew.... Read more

Justice Scalia, Meet Spirituality

Last updated on: July 8, 2015 at 11:00 am By Jim Meisner Jr.

Melanie Lynn Grifffin gets it: “Turns out, though, Jesus did not come to establish a religion or to write a book. He came to help us better know and connect with God so that we all “might have life, and have it to the full,” a life with the freedom and dignity to be fully who we were made to be and who we already are: beloved children of God, carrying that wild spirit inside us. Yup, even gay people.... Read more

American dependence

Last updated on: July 3, 2015 at 6:12 pm By Jim Meisner Jr.

The sacred and the Dead

Last updated on: July 2, 2015 at 3:53 pm By Jim Meisner Jr.

There are some really good articles here about some of the songs from one of the best, and strangest, bands in history. http://religiondispatches.org/section/the-sacred-and-the-dead/ Read more

The word of God in silence

Last updated on: June 28, 2015 at 9:23 pm By Jim Meisner Jr.

Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool –

Last updated on: June 26, 2015 at 8:02 am By Jim Meisner Jr.

Henri Nouwen on the spiritual life

Last updated on: June 25, 2015 at 8:55 am By Jim Meisner Jr.

Jesus before the Bible – for non-Christians

Last updated on: June 24, 2015 at 10:48 am By Jim Meisner Jr.

Too many of our fundamentalist Christian, non-Christian, pagan, and atheist sisters and brothers focus on the Bible and completely overlook Jesus. But you don’t need the Bible to get to Jesus. Just today, for example, a fundamentalist Christian on the internet asked how people can be Christian, without believing every word of the Bible. (She believes in the Bible and not in Jesus. There’s a lot of that going around.) Hundreds, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people learned about... Read more

Into the heart of God

Last updated on: June 8, 2019 at 3:32 pm By Jim Meisner Jr.

I took my 16 month-old daughter to the Atlantic Ocean yesterday for the first time. Approaching the waves tentatively, she was mesmerized by the action of the rolling breakers. The Celtic tradition honors and celebrates the Creator through creation. God isn’t distant, judgmental and demanding – God is alive, immediate and accessible. Wading into the ocean, we step into the arteries of the Earth. The heartbeat of God, pulsating with life. The ocean reminds us of the unharnessed, raw, eternal... Read more