Darkwood Brew: Way Out of No Way, Part 3: Protecting
In this six-week series, we’ll explore some familiar Hebrew stories of despair and deliverance. Noah, Abraham, Joseph, and Moses each persevered with God’s help amid almost unimaginable darkness. This series is for the times in your life when there seems to be no way out, and for the times when God’s covenant shines a light in the darkness providing that way, after all. Part 3, "Protecting," features Bishop John Selders.
Chuck Queen: Rethinking the Bible's Place
There are some Christians who give the Bible godlike homage. It might as well have come floating down from heaven on the wings of angels. Should we ascribe to the Bible divine status?
Weekly Sermon Illustration: The Sheep from the Goats
This is a Day1 Key Voice article by The Rev. Frederick Buechner.
ON Scripture: Jesus, Poor People and the Underside of Thanksgiving (Matthew 25: 31-46) by Billy Honor
I love Thanksgiving. I love the food, the fellowship, the friends and family, the football and did I mention that I love the food. Unashamedly it might very well be my favorite holiday. Yet, despite all my warm feelings about Thanksgiving, I am not blind to its historical shortcomings.
Kenneth Samuel: Not Creeds But Deeds
Have you noticed that the people who have the most to say about the orthodoxy or correctness of Christian doctrine are often not the people who actually do the work of Christ?
Carol Howard Merritt: The Church's New Foundation
'The church’s best days are still ahead,' said CamÂÂeron Trimble. I shared a conspiratorial smile, as I often do when with her. She is executive director of the CenÂter for Progressive ReÂnewal, where I am a consulÂtant. She was telling me about ConÂvergence, a network that she is dreaming up with a group of people, including authors Brian McÂLaren and Diana Butler Bass.
Lillian Daniel: What Makes a Good Boss?
At a workshop on supervision, a group of us were telling stories about past bosses. One person worked for an admiral who had a clear vision and knew how to share it. She carried his gift for managing by objective into a very different career in the non-profit world.
Another Post about Millennials #sorrynotsorry
Everybody is concerned about Millennials and the Church. Every congregation wants Millennials as a part of their community...but do they really?
Chuck Queen: Two Visions, One Book--That's Just the Way It Is
It is hard to imagine that the Jesus who shares table fellowship with tax collectors and sinners, who speaks of God as Abba, who teaches and embodies unlimited forgiveness, who teaches his followers to pray for their enemies, who brings healing and wholeness to the diseased and demonized, and who condemns condemnation would so mercilessly dismiss, condemn and punish the unrighteous.
Steve McSwain: The Art of Growing Old: How Does Anyone Master It?
The recent public storm over actress Renee Zellweger's changing facial look is raising the age-old question about growing old: How does anybody do it? You don't. Growing old does you.
Darkwood Brew: Way Out of No Way, Part 2: Blessing
In this six-week series, we’ll explore some familiar Hebrew stories of despair and deliverance. Noah, Abraham, Joseph, and Moses each persevered with God’s help amid almost unimaginable darkness. This series is for the times in your life when there seems to be no way out, and for the times when God’s covenant shines a light in the darkness providing that way, after all. Part 2, "Blessing," features Jacqueline Lapsley.
David Crumm: The David Gushee Interview on ”˜Changing Our Mind’
News already is spreading that America’s leading evangelical Christian ethicist, Dr. David P. Gushee, has reversed his traditional opposition to LGBT relationships in a landmark book called, 'Changing Our Mind.' ReadTheSpirit.com editor David Crumm interviewed Dr. Gushee about his new book.
Weekly Sermon Illustration: Deborah
In our blog post every Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday, and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic. On November 16, 2014 we will celebrate the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost.
ON Scripture: Should Christians be Afraid of Ebola or Climate Change or ISIS or…? (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11) by Eric D. Barreto
Fear is in the air. Ebola. War. Conflict. Economic turmoil. Political victories. Political losses. This is the stuff of the nightly news. And everywhere we look we have a new villain to worry about, a new threat against which we ought to brace, a new sense of hopelessness. This is nothing new, of course. The world has always been a scary place.
Brett Younger: My Canterbury Tale
Our congregation, Santiago Community Church, polished the silver and pulled out our wedding outfits for Rev. Justin Welby, the 105th in a line that goes back more than 1400 years to Augustine of Canterbury. The diocesan bishop of Southern Argentina exclaimed, 'What a show!'
Carl McColman: 10 Recommended Books on Christian Meditation
A Facebook friend recently asked me, 'Hey Carl, what are your ten top books on meditation?' So here's my answer...
Duke Chapel: Responding to Violence with Justice and Mercy
A Duke Chapel Bridge Panel discussion moderated by the Rev. Dr. Luke Powery, dean of the chapel. The conversation, “Responding to Violence with Justice and Mercy,” is part of the Chapel’s Bridge Panels series that seeks to connect people from various walks of life to discuss issues of shared concern.
The Magnificent Defeat
Today we present Buechner's classic sermon "The Magnificent Defeat" which was originally published in the book The Magnificent Defeat and later in Secrets in the Dark.
Derek Penwell: A Pastoral Letter to Older Generations About Those Frustrating Millennials
The question that older generations of leaders within mainline denominations must ask themselves is: 'What if the kids don’t want our church?' This is an an important issue in the age of the 'nones.'
Anthony Robinson: Physician-Assisted Suicide: Don’t Call It That
'We don’t call it that anymore,' said the social worker from the hospice agency. She had been talking in a vague and confusing way about 'death with dignity.' What was she trying to say? 'Are you talking about physician-assisted suicide,' I asked?