Christianity

Jewish Nationalism, Christian Theology, and the Demise of Interfaith Dialogue

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The realms of acceptable debate in Jewish-Christian interfaith relations seem securely locked down, confined to domestic issues and the sharing of religious practice. Any challenge by Christians or Jews to the status quo on Israel is considered out of bounds. So what’s happened and what can be done to establish an honest interfaith conversation that doesn’t fall apart as soon as Israel or Palestine gets mentioned?

Christianity

Weekly Sermon: Learner's Mind – Decision

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The stories you have heard this morning are master/disciple stories. They tell of the moment of decision to leave everything and go. These stories are about you and me. If they were merely about the old heroes, we’d find them only behind glass in libraries. But they are here because they are about that moment of decision for possibility in the crisis you are facing. The door of the eternal is here: the infinite in a moment. Or not.

Christianity

Why I'm Getting Arrested: A North Carolina Teacher Speaks Out

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Since April, a growing number of North Carolinians have gathered at North Carolina’s General Assembly to collectively petition an extreme legislature whose daily decisions are attacking the general welfare. We have called these gatherings “Moral Mondays,” and an awakening of hope led by people of faith has been at the heart of them. On this Monday, dozens of doctors, nurses, school teachers and environmental activists led the crowd of over 4,000 people. This is the statement made by a public school teacher before she was arrested.

Christianity

Moving Toward Justice: Changing the Story

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This week my heart experienced incredible joy and deep sadness about the Supreme Court decisions. I am so thankful to God for the historic Supreme Court decisions on DOMA and Prop 8. But the Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act felt like a punch in my stomach. Race still matters. And as people of faith, we are going to have to keep testifying to congressional leaders, rising up, and saying “not on our watch.” Human beings, inspired by the still speaking Word of God, need to teach, preach, blog, tweet and testify about the need for a just world. Together, we honor our stories and work to write new ones.

Christianity

God, Revised: The Atheists are Half Right

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Religion in America is in trouble, and science can help save it. Conventional wisdom suggests otherwise, saying that science is more likely to kill religion than to rescue it. But I’m convinced that science is the last best hope for religion in the modern world.

Christianity

DOMA Down, Queers Up

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Violence against people perceived as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) has existed for millennia. Recent anti-LGBTQ violence in New York City is the latest chapter in this sorry history of bigotry, oppression and discrimination. Urgent action is needed to put a stop to the growing number of targeted bashings and murders in our community. Our respective faiths call us to not only stand up for victims of direct violence and oppression, but to cooperatively work to transform violent religious rhetoric until all LGBTQ persons are safe inside and outside faith communities.

Christianity

The Summer Solstice and Ordinary Time

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In the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice — the longest daylight day of the year — happens in ordinary time. The summer solstice in the northern hemisphere saunters into our lives with no muss, no fuss, each day giving a little of its daylight back to the cosmos until the winter solstice arrives with the promise of longer daylight days. I am mindful of the holiness of ordinariness and I am grateful for a blessed peace that exists at this moment in my own back yard.

Christianity

An Easy Essay on Community

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Beloved community is that fellowship in which we know ourselves as we are known in mutual dependence. It is the membership in which we learn to take responsibility for our future in mutual accountability. It is the circle of trust in which we know our flourishing depends upon mutual welcome. Beloved community is not an ideal we achieve but a gift we receive. It is the medium which is the message of God’s love in our world.

Christianity

Weekly Sermon: One For All

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This is how our work will unfold. Through studies and practices in the sciences, the arts, and the religions, we will become more open to the mystery of God and to the manifestation of the many. This is how we will keep learn to speak the language of Jesus, to love the One, and love the Many. Learn to be one for all.

Christianity

Weekly Sermon: When One Works

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But just as we must learn to use our body to serve others, and finally give it over to death, so must we always be learning of money not just how to use it wisely for our own ends, but how to let it go freely, to serve others not at our direction, and to build up a body gathered under the great ideal of love and able to pass its gospel to a new generation.