“Challenge and Stay: A Prophetic Response to Xenophobia”

Last updated on: August 14, 2019 at 11:21 am By Bruce Epperly

In the wake of the political firestorm involving a presidential suggestion that four outspoken congresswomen – all citizens and three of which were born in the USA -should return to their nations of origin, the pastor of the ironically-named Friendship Baptist Church in Appomattox, Virginia, placed the following message on the church marque, “America: Love It or Leave It.” When queried about the sign, the pastor responded, “People feel hard about our president and want to down the president and... Read more

Reinhold Niebuhr: We Need Him Now More than Ever

Last updated on: August 8, 2019 at 3:42 pm By Bruce Epperly

Theology can cure or kill. Theology can promote compassion and self-transcendence and bigotry and selfishness. When theology is connected too intimately with politics, these polarities emerge in ways that can lead to tolerance and affirmation or persecution and judgment of those who differ from us. In these times in which religion has, in some quarters, become aligned with the idolatrous practices of nation-first, bullying of those who do not hold our viewpoints, and reliance on falsehoods rather than the quest... Read more

There’s an “Echo in the Canyon”: More Than a Memory But Living Within Me

Last updated on: July 21, 2019 at 7:47 pm By Bruce Epperly

There’s a joke that says “if you remember the sixties, you weren’t really there.” I am a child of the sixties. I remember a teenager, rail thin, long-haired, scruffy, growing my first beard, a pilgrim on a magical mystery tour with Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, Siddhartha, and Steppenwolf as my companions and the Sermon on the Mount, Thoreau, Whitman, Lao Tzu, and the Upanishads as my guides. I remember soaring eight miles high with the Byrds, tripping with the Chamber’s brothers... Read more

Amos, Amaziah, and American Christianity

Last updated on: July 19, 2019 at 9:27 am By Bruce Epperly

Recently, we’ve heard the chants of “send her back” and “go back to where you came from” at rallies, on tweets, and in conversations with the press. These “love it or leave it” mantras remind me of a similar encounter recorded in scripture, this one, between the prophet Amos and the court priest Amaziah, in which Amaziah tells the prophetic critic Amos to go back to Tekoa, in the Southern Kingdom, and stop troubling his Northern Kingdom siblings. Though Amos... Read more

The Adventurous Lectionary – Seventh Sunday after Pentecost – July 28, 2019

Last updated on: July 25, 2019 at 1:40 pm By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – Seventh Sunday after Pentecost Hosea 1:2-10 Psalm 85 Colossians 2:6-19 Luke 11:1-19 Today’s readings are about divine generosity and recovery. We recognize that there is an ethical calculus in the universe: though injustice reaps rewards quickly, eventually those who are unjust will experience, as Amos says, a famine of hearing God’s word and will reap the whirlwind of social chaos and disorder. Eventually they will be deposed. Those who forget future generations, inspired by power and... Read more

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost – July 14, 2019

Last updated on: July 11, 2019 at 2:46 pm By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost – July 14, 2019 Amos 7:7-17 Psalm 82 Colossians 1:1-14 Luke 10:25-37 Today’s readings are timely. Reports of unsafe and unsanitary conditions in border detention camps, separation of children from their parents, and the demonization of immigrants and asylum seekers by national leaders dominate the news. The nation is in danger of losing its soul as our leaders intentionally undermine environmental regulations, threaten massive roundups of long-term, law-abiding undocumented residents, and... Read more

Celebrating Interdependence Day: The Fourth of July and the Lord’s Prayer

Last updated on: July 3, 2019 at 8:16 pm By Bruce Epperly

I love the Fourth of July. I grew up with parades, fireworks, and picnics, and this year will be no exception. But, as I grow older, the meaning of the Fourth of July has changed for me. This year, I am especially conscious of the growing distance between the elusive American dream and the realities of American life. In the past year, we’ve seen children separated from parents, housed in camps that fail any test of hygiene or ethics. We’ve... Read more

The Future of Process Theology: Personal and Planetary Meditations

Last updated on: July 4, 2019 at 11:46 am By Bruce Epperly

The upcoming conference focusing on the “Future of Process Theology,” to be held July 24-26 in Fairbanks, Alaska, has inspired me to articulate my own future vision for process theology as it continues to interact with our postmodern, pluralistic, and increasingly interdependent world. I have been a process theologian, amateur and professional, for nearly fifty years. I first encountered process theology as a student at San Jose State University in Richard Keady’s and Marie Fox’s classes in 1973. Looking back,... Read more

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