Guest Writer: Rev. Kimberly Braun. Mysticism sure has become a buzzword these days, whether it is a desire to recognize yourself as a mystic, discover how to surrender into mystical experience, learn from people we consider mystics or even stand skeptically apart from the notion, the word-mysticism- evokes response. When I see this kind of relationship to a notion it gets me curious “Why?’ Why now? Why are human beings using the word more, and spiritual teachers labeling what they... Read more
Christmas is upon us. What is Christmas? How are progressive Christians to understand it? Can we even celebrate it at all? Most progressive Christians embrace the scholarship that points to how the stories of Jesus’ birth were tacked onto the faith well after the original gospel of Mark was written down – without any mention of his birth. Most progressive Christians consider those birth stories to be myths – myths that drew from certain portions of the Hebraic tradition, as... Read more
I recently participated in a two hour experiential gathering that was advertised in the town I live in aimed at helping people deal with some important parts of life. The title of the event, “Expressing Grief, Honoring Truth, Reigniting the Heart,” and the description of it – “Join us for this gathering that is open to the whole community and continues our exploration of a transformational response to the harm revealed by the MeToo movement” – were both specific and... Read more
I am the wind rushing by seeing all the world’s great pain. I am the land people make love upon that’s nurtured, war-torn, and raped. I am the Sun dishonored whose radiant energy is tragically squandered. I am the water getting warmer and ready to cover the earth. I am the volatile atmosphere seeking your awakening with my increasing storms. I am someone daring to raise a child of hope in this aching, broken world. I am a man of... Read more
The following article is one of my favorites that I’ve ever come across. I found it 14 years ago in The Wittenberg Door Magazine. It was written by a former Republican lawmaker who was repenting of his sins of sodomy. (That website is no longer administered). – Roger Wolsey —————————————————- “What’s Mine is Yours” Confessions of a former Sodomite Angelic beings are rarely politically correct. The angels visiting Lot didn’t wait around to file a sexual harassment lawsuit when the... Read more
We like to think that we’re progressing. We like to think that we’re evolving. We like to think that society is on the verge of a Great Leap Forward, a dawning of an age of Aquarius, bounding from blue to orange, green, yellow, turquoise, & coral with “Indigo children” rising. We’d like to think so but it either ain’t so or if we are, progress and evolution are less like a fast tracked rocket-ship exponentially attaining... Read more
We humans frequently feel a sense of being less than – less than whole, less than healed, less than okay, less than worthy, less than spiritual, less than “connected,” less than Divine. This felt sense of less than, this sense of a gap between an ideal state and present reality, is what humans need to have tended to. We need to have it addressed. We yearn to know that we aren’t defined by our worst days, our worst actions, or... Read more
Caution: This prayer is strong medicine. It’s been coming through for the last few days. I offer it with trepidation and care for all. You may want to sit down first though. BROTHER Brother, I need you. Brother, I call to you. Through the eons of pain, guilt, war, shame, and the ravaging of my body, of the Mother’s body. I cry for your arms to protect me. For the vibration of your resounding voice in my ear. For your... Read more
I’m a person who notices bumper-stickers when I’m out and about and I enjoy making mention of the more interesting ones in my sermons. It seems that there are some of you who enjoy this kind of thing as well – in fact a few of you have approach me to ask me about the things that are stuck on the back of my car; i.e., two of those silvery “fish” emblems. You’ve probably noticed that there are an increasing... Read more
Buckle up fellow Bible Geeks. A small word that packs a whallop. A Call to Prayer, Action, and a New Understanding of Faith. “Managing the Waves” Transcript of a Message shared on 6/24/18 at Father Dyer UMC Breckenridge, CO & a modified version at Nederland Community Presbyterian Church on 8/26/18. On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the... Read more
The Holy Kiss
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