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Progressive Christian

2020-09-15T13:02:35-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Does God Like Women? How About a Tampon Drive?

Last updated on: September 15, 2020 at 1:02 pm By Christy Thomas

“Around the globe, managing menstruation can be a debilitating, even deadly, problem – fueled by a combination of poverty, misinformation, stigma and superstition. One in ten girls in Africa misses school for the duration of her period each month. In Bangladesh, infections caused from filthy, contaminated rags are rampant. Menstrual hygiene has been linked to high rates of cervical cancer in India.” A friend sent me the link to the article containing that quote, and asks, “Does the Bible like... Read more

feminine hygiene products

fertility

levitical restrictions on women

woman suffering from hemorrhage

2015-02-04T15:25:17-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Megachurch's Unintentional Murder of Connected Christianity

Last updated on: February 4, 2015 at 3:25 pm By Christy Thomas

I think the megachurch movement has created a clearly unintentional but serious infection which may lead to the eventual death of Christian connection, AKA the church. Let me explain. After noting a “meh” response to the last church I visited in the Mystery Worship adventure, I thought I’d better analyze what happened because the worship itself was quite well done. A varying team accompanies me on these mystery worship visits. Age range: pre-teen to the geriatric, and have differing religious backgrounds.... Read more

The United Methodist Church

UMC

2017-05-20T11:00:21-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Denton Mystery Worship Fifteen: A Confession Mirror

Last updated on: May 20, 2017 at 11:00 am By Christy Thomas

We don’t want to talk about sin. We don’t want to say that someone or something else has authority over what we think and believe. We live steeped in a culture that denies any absolutism in truth and celebrates an “anything goes” morality. But current fashions do not stop an unvarnished and clear presentation of such concepts at St. Paul Lutheran (Missouri Synod) Church. This small church is tucked almost invisibly among commercial structures just north of downtown Denton on... Read more

congregational singing

liturgy

passive worship

St. Paul Lutheran Denton

2015-02-03T17:20:46-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Working Poor and the Privileged Parent

Last updated on: February 3, 2015 at 5:20 pm By Christy Thomas

I just heard that another parent in the privileged enclave known as Highland Park, a small, rich area in Dallas, TX, has objected to one of her little innocents reading David Shipler’s excellent book, The Working Poor. According to the KERA report, the mother in question said, “the book was Marxist and socialist. ‘It’s almost as if they want the children to apologize if they aren’t the working poor, or if they have capitalist ideals.'” Good heavens! Expose one’s children... Read more

2015-01-27T13:26:32-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Denton Mystery Worship Fourteen: They Changed the Service Times!

Last updated on: January 27, 2015 at 1:26 pm By Christy Thomas

OK, churches: here’s the rule: If you are going to change normal worship times for any reason, make it clear on your website that you are doing so. Or better, don’t change them. Not if you want to welcome the stranger in into your place of worship. Twice now in this worship adventure, I have discovered that the church either was not meeting at all or that worship time had been changed for a particular day. Last fall, when I... Read more

pastor job description

pastoral evaluations

St Andrew Presbyterian Denton

2017-05-24T11:12:21-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Wild dogs, unwatched babies and trust: Why we can’t heal the UMC

Last updated on: May 24, 2017 at 11:12 am By Christy Thomas

Trust serves as the glue that holds any society together. We trust that others will obey the traffic laws, will pay their fair share of taxes, will be faithful to their spouses, will respect one another’s property, will contribute a proportionate amount to the common good. When that trust is betrayed, the wounds go deep and heal poorly, if at all. In 2015, I was in Costa Rica for a Pacific Coast sunset wedding at a small, remote place called... Read more

jurisdictional solutions

pride

restore and release

UMC

2017-05-21T10:16:01-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mystery Worship, Costa Rican Style

Last updated on: May 21, 2017 at 10:16 am By Christy Thomas

Heat-induced indolence had taken residence in body and soul after a week in the remote beach town of Samara on the Pacific edge of Costa Rica. Location: about midway down a large peninsula, a two-hour challenging car ride from the four-gate airport in Liberia. Auto traffic on the narrow two-lane road shared space with bicycles, and locals say road construction can shut down the only road in for hours. In the rainy season, it may wash out entirely. We passed... Read more

Roman Catholic Church

Samara Beach

2015-01-23T14:58:19-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Problem of Evil: Deliver Us From Temptation

Last updated on: January 23, 2015 at 2:58 pm By Christy Thomas

Please watch the short video: The illustrator and narrator have asked that continually nagging question: How can there be a good God yet all this bad in the world? Above all, this is the question the church must answer. The question and the current response to reject anything smacking of “institutionalized religion” do not erase the human need for divine connection. It does call into question the way God has been perceived and described for millennia. Is God really the... Read more

2015-01-11T17:59:55-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

On Trying to Donate a Kidney: The Fly in the Ointment

Last updated on: January 11, 2015 at 5:59 pm By Christy Thomas

Mysterious practices, multiple entrances, confusing requirements, authority figures dressed differently with clothing often suggesting power and authority: hospitals and churches have these in common. Another commonality: Both seek to move people from one level of existence to another. From physical illness to health, from unredeemed sinner to saint. And both encounter much resistance on the part of humanity: most resist the hard work of forming and practicing the disciplines necessary for healthy body and healthy souls. These thoughts danced in... Read more

UCLA transplant center

2018-03-12T15:01:48-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

On Trying to Donate a Kidney, Part Four

Last updated on: March 12, 2018 at 3:01 pm By Christy Thomas

[Note: I am working my way through the process of trying to be approved as a kidney donor for my brother. Part One is here. Part Two is here. Part Three is here.] I have now had my last kidney function test–a contrast dye CT scan. Piece of cake. Afterward, I sat outside on another gorgeous southern California day, watching the people go by. Hordes of what may have been medical school aspirants swarmed past, professional-looking, all in black or... Read more

UCLA transplant center

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