Although I've written about the significance of my yoga practice and Christian ministry for many years, this is the first in an occasional series I'm calling, "What Yoga Has Taught Me About Church." Inhale, raise your arms above your head; Exhale, swan dive; Inhale,...
The Catholic elementary school I attended was in the heart of South Omaha, an area that was most recently populated by the families of European immigrants who worked in the packing plants and railroad yards that still dotted the dreary industrial landscape. Few of our...
News of grand jury decisions not to indict the killers of Michael Brown and Eric Garner left me reeling in a way that few news stories have in years. I’m not a lawyer, nor do I have any special insight into what happened in those grand jury rooms in St. Louis and New...
This blog series, Family Ministry: Not Just for the Christian Right Anymore, explores how family-based faith formation ministry will help progressive Christian values take root first in homes and then throughout our communities and the world in order to spread justice...
Two words for my fellow Progressive Christians: Stop Hiding. I know you don’t want to be associated with door-knocking, salvation-sharing, “washed-in-the-blood” proselytizing. You don’t want to talk about what you believe in public or even with your family or church....
This is part of my Listening in Lent series in which I reflect on my experience of practicing listening during this holy season. I can’t remember what exactly we were doing, but my brother and I were driving my mother crazy that Good Friday. Having attended Catholic...
Following the Light is a series of blogs that point to the brights spots where I see renewal and rebirth in the world of religion and spirituality. The series will continue through the Christian season of Epiphany. I just wish Ken Ham and Bill Nye could have sat down...
I can’t think of too many weekends more perfect than that Labor Day weekend in 2007. Three good friends and I loaded cars and trekked to the lake house we were borrowing on Lake Michigan just near Saugatuck, Michigan late on Friday night. Clear, blue skies, perfect...
The biggest, baddest, most offensive swear word in the Mainline Church does not begin with an “S,” a “D” or even an “F.” It begins with an “E.” Progressive Christians avoid the word “Evangelism” far more than those other bad words more commonly associated with...
My thoughts on Iowa Conference UCC staff blogMy thoughts on how relationships take precedence over big, fancy church program.
A couple weeks ago at my Saturday morning yoga class, my teacher asked me to demonstrate a pose. We had just been kicking up to the forearm balance, pincha mayurasana, which is pretty solid for me at this point. So, instead of being afraid I couldn’t do it, I just...