Dr. Kenneth Samuel: Voyage to Intimacy
It's easier to explore the unknown than it is to re-examine the inner dimensions of life toward which we have become so complacent.
Chris Yaw Interviews Kenda Creasy Dean: Exploring the Spirituality of Young People
It’s a lament often heard in churches: where are all the kids? And Princeton Seminary”˜s Kenda Creasy Dean says we often not need look further than parents.
Carl McColman: A Contemplative Revolution
Contemplative spirituality is like the French resistance of the Nazi era. Think about Jesus, who insisted that to follow him Christians should be "in, but not of" the world. Compare that to the rather challenging task that a member of the resistance faced during World War II.
Lillian Daniel: Talking Cancer
When we talk to people who are going through a very difficult time, we often don't know what to say. We try to be encouraging and instead we say something that annoys the person. Or we say nothing and later find out that they wondered if we cared. How do you get it right with the people you love?
Dr. David Lose: Does Confirmation Still Matter?
I know this seems like a heretical question, especially for those of us who teach confirmation but also, I suspect, for any of us who went through it. It is, after all, perhaps the most significant religious right of passage in mainline Christianity.
Kyrie Eleison
Before the blaming and the investigation goes any farther the Christian Community can invoke God's Mercy and proclaim hope.
A Prayer for Colorado
A prayer for those whose lives have been shattered by the shooting In Aurora, Colorado on July 20, 2012
Measured Faith
There is cause for concern whenever vanity stands close to grace, for the measure of our faith is skewed.
Carol Howard Merritt: Living with Two Loves: Bivocational Life
For the last couple of years, I have been a bivocational minister by choice. In other words, I have had a strong, deep sense of call to the pastorate, a place where I have served and loved people for fourteen years, while also nurturing this growing drive to write. I understand the excitement and frustrations of trying to balance. As I thrive in two pursuits, I feel like I’m cheating life.
Dr. Serene Jones: Why Attend Seminary?
As president of Union Theological Seminary, I am very proud of this institution's 175-year history as a force for socially-engaged Christianity in America and around the world. It's fascinating to me, though, how many people know of Union but have absolutely no idea what happens on our campus, or at other seminaries.
Douthat, Bass and Liberal Christianity
Recently New York Times columnist and author of "Bad Religion," Ross Douthat asked, "Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?" Historian and popular commentator on church and culture, Diana Butler Bass, responded to Douthat saying he mostly got it wrong. Here's my take on their debate and the issue of "Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?"
Dr. Thomas Lane Butts: Looking for Tony
Several years ago there was a fictionalized television drama of the life of Marilyn Monroe. No sensitive person could fail to be touched by the haunting tragedy of how much of her life was a quest for self-identity.
ON Scripture: Eric Shafer on Compassion Fatigue: Mark 6:30-34 & 53-56
This week's ON Scripture lectionary aid on Mark 6:30-34 & 53-56: The good news is that you and I can take a break at times. Rest, relaxation, vacation, is not only a God-given gift; it is a God-given necessity.
A spirituality of privacy
Research fellow Jim Rice takes a look at online privacy issues and how that relates to our life as Christians.
Chris Yaw Interviews Stan Ott: Beating the Pressure of Present Demands
Stan Ott, seasoned consultant with the Vital Practices Institute, says helping leaders get past the tyranny of the immediate is the most common challenge he sees in today’s churches.
Kenneth Samuel: Ownership
In these days of economic stagnation, public school crises and health care debates, it is extremely difficult to find any person or entity willing to step up to the plate and take full ownership and responsibility.
Diana Butler Bass: Can Christianity Be Saved? A Response to Ross Douthat
The real question is not "Can liberal Christianity be saved?" The real question is: Can Christianity be saved?
The Brass Communion Rail
A prayer for pastoral presence in unexpected places.
Father Alberto Cutié: Overcoming Fear
A sermon given to the Episcopal General Convention: I am convinced that fear is ultimately responsible for keeping us from doing the work of the Kingdom; that kingdom of justice, peace and love which Jesus challenges his disciples – both then and now - to proclaim and make real in this world.