Good vs Bad You’d better watch out, you’d better not cry, You’d better not shout I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town.[1] Many of us developed an image of God based more on Santa Claus than on anything biblical. That image, born in childhood and perpetuated by many churches, persists long beyond … Continue reading Good vs bad

Questions vs Answers, Part 2 “You insist on explaining everything as if the whole world were composed of things that can be explained…Has it ever occurred to you that only a few things in this world can be explained your way?” Don Juan Matus[1] Our desire for clear-cut answers to deep and difficult questions, and … Continue reading Questions vs Answers, Part 2

Questions vs Answers Of course you don’t understand it. If you understood it, it wouldn’t be what you’re looking for. It would just be one more thing you understand. James Finley[1] One of the significant points of distinction between Christianity and churchianity has to do with the degree to which one believes we can be … Continue reading Questions vs Answers

Reconciliation vs Retribution, Part 4 Grace is what we call what is left over after the scouring of the self, the dying to the self…Grace comes to us in the flesh, through the spaces and forms and contents of our human life…Grace is so mixed up in the stuff of human life that it cannot … Continue reading Reconciliation vs Retribution, Part 4

Reconciliation vs Retribution, Part 3 The term “heresy” is used with derogatory connotations by evangelicals & their apologists, yet all it means is belief contrary to orthodoxy. The religious elite of western Christianity have rarely been on the right side of history, so finding myself out of alignment with what they have determined to be … Continue reading Reconciliation vs Retribution, Part 3

Reconciliation vs Retribution, Part 2 We need to bury once and for all those fear-and-punishment scenarios that got programmed into so many of us during our childhood. There is no monster out there; only love waiting to set us free. Cynthia Bourgeault[1] In order to feel better about ourselves and our own perceived shortcomings, we … Continue reading Reconciliation vs Retribution, Part 2

Reconciliation vs Retribution And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Matthew 6:5 Many believe the institutional church today is faltering because too many people know too little about Christianity … Continue reading Reconciliation vs Retribution

Spiritual, not Religious, Part 6 I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Matthew 3:11 The term spirituality is derived from the concept of Spirit, generally meaning not physical. In broad terms, spirituality seeks to … Continue reading Spiritual, not Religious, Part 6

Spiritual, not Religious, Part 5 What if (Jesus) didn’t come to start a new religion – but rather came to start a political, social, religious, artistic, economic, intellectual, and spiritual revolution that would give birth to a new world? Brian McLaren[1] As we ponder why increasing numbers of people consider themselves spiritual but not religious, … Continue reading Spiritual, not Religious, Part 5

Spiritual, not Religious, Part 4 Where you have absolute solutions, however, you have no need of faith. Faith is what you have in the absence of knowledge. Flannery O’Conner[1] Various studies confirm that roughly a quarter of all Americans do not identify with a religious tradition, Christian or otherwise. The numbers are even more striking … Continue reading Spiritual, Not Religious, Part 4

Spiritual, not Religious, Part 3 …in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. Colossians 1:24b A few months ago I wrote about my belief that the church has hijacked Jesus, prayer, God, and the Bible from non-churched spiritual seekers, largely unintentionally, … Continue reading Spiritual, not Religious, Part 3

Jesus and the Christ, Part 3 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”. Matthew 1:23, quoting from Isaiah 7:14 If Jesus attempted to lead us to the realization that we can and should follow him by becoming like him, what then … Continue reading Jesus and the Christ, Part 3