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Experience, by Natalie Mann and Jeffrey Panko
Fresh off her successful solo debut at Carnegie Hall, soprano Natalie Mann tackles an ambitious project—the songs of Lori Laitman and Richard Pearson Thomas—with palpable confidence and a thrilling...
Popcorn season: Summers bounty in winter
As a child, I loved to make and eat popcorn with my dad. But this rosy memory is eclipsed by the reality of the popcorn my brother grows now.
Defining ourselves positively
People assume a lot about what Christians are like. And often, we left-leaners are quick to explain not what we are but what we are not: not fixated on others’ damnation, not beholden to the Republican party, not antigay. It’s an understandable impulse. It also makes it that much easier for others to define us out of the faith altogether: they are the ones who believe or do x, y, and z important things; we are the ones who do not.
Ten reasons why being a pastor is the best job ever
In the blog-o-sphere, pastors like to complain. Mainly, because this is a good space for it. Where else can church leaders vent? Also, it's good to strategize here....
RCL preachers: This is the one shot "love your enemies" has in five years.
I don't usually write about preaching or about specific Revised Common Lectionary texts, since that's well covered elsewhere on the site by people more qualified than I. This is just a quick note motivated by the fact that this Sunday's Gospel reading is the subject of one of the more startling RCL factoids that came up when I was reporting my fall article on alternate lectionaries.
Our Roots Are In You
These 17 songs are inspired by the psalms, and the musical settings recall Michael W. Smith and Phil Keaggy....
Pentecostal groups agree to bridge a century-old racial divide
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
84-year-old nun gets 35 months for breaking into nuclear facility
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Resources for contemplative practice
A list of books and websites on contemplative and spiritual practices.
Contemplative congregation: An invitation to silence
We began our business meeting in the chapel with dimmed lights. I led the board through several calming prayers, noticing our breath and heartbeats.
Pope and president, partnership and promise
The United States and the Catholic Church share some intriguing similarities: both are global in reach, exert significant influence over hundreds of millions of people, and (perhaps most interestingly) make serious teleological claims. Such claims have not necessarily clashed, for they appeal to different social and moral aspects of humanity. At their best, they can be complementary empires of promise.
Ordination overhaul
Yesterday, I heard some dismal new student recruitment statistics for a Presbyterian (USA) seminary. They weren't the first ones that I've heard. Admissions are low. Really low....
Writing to Wake the Soul, by Karen Hering
Karen Hering believes that writing is a way to tune into your inner voice and discover the relationship you have with whom or what you believe in.
Sunday, March 2, 2014: Exodus 24:12-18; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9
I grew up in Southern Baptist congregations. By the time I left high school I knew the four steps to salvation and the meaning of Jesus’ sacrificial death as a substitutionary atonement for my sins. I could articulate this understanding of salvation in clear and simple terms. Within the metanarrative of evangelical Christianity it made perfect sense and was logically coherent.
Then my fundamentalism began to unravel.
Jamie Coots, co-star of ‘Snake Salvation,’ dies of a snakebite
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
On public writing and polarization
I recently helped write a letter to leaders of my denomination, Mennonite Church USA....
Retributive justice
Thousands of years of hindsight make it easy to smugly look back on the Torah and think, “thank God we’re not like them.” This ...