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March 2020

March 02, 2020

What Difference Can Another Lent Make?

This Lent, the 40-day period of reflection and preparation that precedes Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection,...

February 2016

February 25, 2016

Funeral for An Addict

Kevin, our custodian, was expected to be at our Ash Wednesday evening church service. An...

February 09, 2016

Lent Post Round-Up! A Progressive Christian Lent at Patheos

"God needs nothing, asks nothing, and demands nothing, like the stars. It is life with...

February 09, 2016

The Sweet and Sour Soup of Lent

We are all like sweet-and-sour soup. We can be so incredibly loving and yet so...

March 2015

March 20, 2015

Journey Through Lent: When “I Must Try Harder” Gets in the Way of Love

by Matt Bays This is God’s season…Lent…Easter. It’s the time of year when some of...

March 10, 2015

A Powerful Manual for the Spiritual Life

As a prophet and wisdom teacher, Jesus frequently challenged the status quo and employed witty,...

February 2015

February 25, 2015

The Battle Over the Body and Blood of Christ: Altar or Table?

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a weekly Lenten series on the body and blood of...

April 2014

April 16, 2014

A Gentle Fraying: Observing a Homespun Lent, Week 7

On Good Friday, I try and live in that place of loss and uncertainty, that...

April 09, 2014

A Gentle Fraying: Observing a Homespun Lent, Week 6

Found Objects The following is an excerpt from the Palm Sunday chapter in my book A...

April 04, 2014

The Cross, Part 5: What is it Good For?

Imagine a courtroom where the worst kind of criminal has just been convicted of a...

April 02, 2014

Ryan Bell’s Year Without God

We sat in the sunken courtyard of the United University Church at USC in Los...

April 02, 2014

Observing a Homespun Lent, Week 5: Beginning Again

Beginning Again Well here I am. I am stuck in the middle. The middle of...

March 2014

March 31, 2014

Stronger Together: Observing an Interfaith Lent

By J. Dana Trent Author, Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister...

March 28, 2014

The Cross, Part 4: The Views of Calvin, Arminius, and Aslan Described Somewhat Snarkily

One of the issues facing our understanding of the crucifixion event centers on who to...

March 26, 2014

A Gentle Fraying: Observing a Homespun Lent, Week 4

Once upon a time I coveted a house and twenty acres. But it was no...

March 21, 2014

The Cross, Part 3: Was Job Right in Declaring God Unfair?

If Job was right in that he didn’t deserve all the horrible things that happened...

March 14, 2014

The Cross, Part 2: The God Who Sends Tornados and Fails to Protect Soldiers

NOTE: In my first post on the Cross, I mentioned that people who face suffering...

March 07, 2014

The Cross: The Problem of Evil

Editor's Note: This is the first in a weekly series of meditations on the cross...

March 06, 2014

If Jesus Gave a TED Talk (#1)

This is the first of a series of posts where I re-imagine Jesus’ five big sermons as TED Talks,...

March 04, 2014

Practicing Silence for Lent

The isolated, inhospitable desert holds attraction as a place to find deep spiritual wisdom, as...

March 04, 2014

Taking Ashes to the Streets: A Q&A with Sara Miles

"Sometimes, worshiping in a church building, you can be tempted by the fantasy that God...

March 26, 2010

Last Minute Lent

Holy Week is almost here, marking the final stretch of the 40-day Lenten season. But...