Feeling frustrated as leaders or members of progressive congregations as they try to be lesbian- and gay-affirming probably should not be surprising. Some sources of frustration are documented in a journal article by Krista McQueeney of Salem College titled “We are God’s Children, Y’All:” Race,
Annually I write the report on “Protestantism” for World Book and other yearbooks. For a dozen or score of years now, the lead story always has to be about churches tearing themselves apart in lose-lose battles over the blessing of gay marriages and ordination of
There are to be no second-class citizens in the United States! We established a long time ago that “separate is not equal,” and all American citizens are entitled to enjoy equality under the law. Any society that presumes to refer to itself as “decent” and
Almost 80 million people voted for a Barack Obama that talked about real change including single-payer healthcare and the end of Wall Street and other corporations pulling the strings in Washington. A march of – at most – 60,000 in Washington in September should mean
“the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Luke 2:27) In the story of Adam and Eve, the Lord created a partnership between two human beings to fulfill their need for companionship. He did not create two human beings to fulfill some
The top ecumenical – some are saying un- or anti-ecumenical – news of the year occurred October 20th with a Vatican announcement. Bypassing forty years of Anglican-Roman Catholic conversations-cum-negotiations and blindsiding Archbishop Rowan Williams, the head of the seventy-million-member Anglican Communion, Vatican officials announced that
Close on the heels of a similar decision by the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America lifted its ban on calling gay and lesbian pastors and approved of supporting committed, same-sex relationships of church members. The 4.6-million-member ELCA, holding its weeklong Churchwide Assembly
For it is in giving that we receive. (Prayer of St. Francis) Love is something if you give it away, Give it away, give it away. Love is something if you give it away, You end up having more. (“Magic Penny” children’s hymn by Malvina
There’s something so appealing about the story in the Gospels of the poor widow throwing her two copper coins into the temple treasury, in contrast to the larger sums donated by wealthy patrons. It’s such a simple concept, anyone can understand it. Who can’t see
The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; and they were very dry.